=31. CONSPICVVS LONGE FVLGENTIBVS ARMIS.= Modelled on _Aen_ XI 769 '_insignis longe_ Phrygiis _fulgebat_ in _armis_'.
=32. FORTIA NE POSSINT FACTA LATERE CAVES.= Vestalis would in any case have fought bravely; so that his deeds would not pass unnoticed, he led the attack.
=33. INGENTIQVE GRADV.= When Ovid elsewhere use _ingens gradus_ (_passus_) he gives the phrase a humorous tone: see _Am_ III i 11 'uenit et _ingenti_ uiolenta Tragoedia _passu_', _AA_ III 303-4 'illa uelut coniunx Vmbri rubicunda mariti / ambulat _ingentes_ uarica fertque _gradus'_, and _Met_ XIII 776-77 (of Polyphemus) 'gradiens _ingenti_ litora _passu_ / degrauat'. The straightforwardness of this passage is of a piece with the rest of the poem.
For an example of the normal epic use of this detail, see _Aen_ X 572 'longe gradientem'.
=33. FERRVM LOCVMQVE= reflects 23 'dubium _positu_ melius defensa _manune_'.
=34. SAXAQVE ... GRANDINE PLVRA.= The same phrase in the same metrical position at _Ibis_ 467-68 'aut te deuoueat certis Abdera diebus, / _saxaque_ deuotum _grandine plura_ petant'.
=35. MISSA SVPER IACVLORVM TVRBA.= 'The crowding missiles hurled from above' (Wheeler).
=38. FERE.= Heinsius' FERO would involve the repetition of _fero_ in 44; and _fero uulnere_ would be rather feeble when applied to a shield.
Professor R. J. Tarrant points out to me that Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit may have served as a distant model for Lucan's account of how a centurion named Scaeua rallied Caesar's forces and led an attack against Pompey's encampment (VI 140-262). Scaeua was made _primipilaris_ in reward for his bravery (Caesar _BC_ III 53 5).
=40. SED MINOR EST ACRI LAVDIS AMORE DOLOR.= Similar language of a similar exploit at _Met_ XI 525-28 'ut miles, numero praestantior omni, / cum saepe adsiluit defensae moenibus urbis, / spe potitur tandem _laudisque accensus amore_ / inter mille uiros murum tamen occupat unus'. Ovid's description of Vestalis' exploit is little more than a string of conventional phrases.
=40. ACRI.= 'Sharp'. Compare ii 36 'immensum gloria _calcar_ habet'.
=41-42. TALIS APVD TROIAM DANAIS PRO NAVIBVS AIAX / DICITVR HECTOREAS SVSTINVISSE FACES.= Compare _Met_ XIII 7-8 (Ajax speaking of Ulysses) 'at non Hectoreis dubitauit cedere flammis, / quas ego sustinui, quas hac a classe fugaui' and _Met_ XIII 384-85 (the death of Ajax) 'Hectora qui solus, qui ferrum ignesque Iouemque / sustinuit totiens, unam non sustinet iram'. All three passages are drawn from _Il_ XV 674-746, the description of how Ajax repulsed Hector's attempt to set the Greek ships afire, and in particular from 730-31 '[Greek: enth ar' ho g' hestêkei dedokêmenos, encheï d' aiei / Trôas amyne neôn, hos tis pheroi akamaton pyr]'.